Long Beach State University
CSUN
Beach Closes Regular Season With Walkoff Loss At CSUN
5/12/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Northridge, Calif. - Long Beach State fought back to tie the regular season finale at CSUN at 5-5 on a solo home run from Julia Lombardi, but CSUN answered back with a solo homer from Savannah Horvath in the bottom of the seventh inning to steal the final game of the series in a 6-5 loss for LBSU.
Long Beach State (42-12, 16-5 Big West) opened the game with a bang, as Nichole Fry singled, and after a hit batter and a single by Taylor Rowland loaded the bases, Lauren MacLeod brought home the first run of the game with a walk. With the bases still full of 49ers, a deep fly to left by Grayce Majam was misplayed by the Matadors, clearing the bases and giving the Beach a 4-0 win.
CSUN (23-26, 8-13) recovered quickly to take the lead. Cielo Meza struggled to open the game, loading the bases, and freshman Journey Rojas made the Beach play with a grand slam, tying the game at 4-4 after one.
Devyn Magnett, despite giving up the grand slam, quickly recovered and got out of the inning and would go deep into the ballgame. The Matadors took their first lead of the game in the third, pushing Savannah Horvath across with help from a two-base wild pitch.
Lombardi brought the Beach back even with one swing in the sixth, turning on the first pitch to hit her second home run of the series, and the 20th of her career to tie the game at 5-5.
In the bottom of the seventh, Magnett collected the first two outs of the inning, but Horvath hit a walk-off solo home run to end the contest in a 6-5 win. Long Beach State entered the week at No. 18 in the RPI, and stands in good position to earn an at-large bid for the program's 24th trip to the NCAA postseason. The selection announcement will be made on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. on Sunday, May 13.
